Ethnicity

The premier episode of The Space aired this Saturday at 6PM on NTV. The guests on this show's episode were Sarakasi dance troupe, part of a performing arts organization that was established in 2001

Sarakasi Dancers 

Award winning gospel artist Emmy Kosgei who sings gospel music exclusively in Kalenjin language

Emmy Kosgei 

 Masanduku Junior aka JB a charismatic comedian and TV personality.

Masanduku Junior- JB

Questions and discussions on ethnicity were done at length:

If someone asks you what tribe you are are they tribal?
Are you your tribe first then Kenyan?

Our socialization and perceptions that are inculcated in us when we are young. Some perceptions of people about other tribes are stereotypical.

Ethnicity and tribalism comes about during allocation of resources when one tribe seems to be favored when it comes to providing opportunities such as employment.

The youth have a responsibility as individuals to carry themselves when dealing with issues to do with ethnicity and tribalism.

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Watch This Space .....

Watch This Space  This Saturday action and fun hits your screens for an exciting premier episode of the Space on NTV starting at 6PM.

Challenges facing the Kenyan education system

Education is highly valued in Kenya; it is seen as an important avenue towards economic opportunities and social mobility as well as an indicator of social status. Although the economic regression of recent years has meant that education is no longer an automatic passport to employment, the value placed on education by most social groups in Kenya has remained high. 

The current system of education was meant to have students spend 8 years in primary 4 years in secondary and 4 years in the university. There was the introduction of free primary education that encountered teething problems in the beginning.It has had implications to the system two most important ones being, the rate of retention and completion and the quality of education has been compromised because the student teacher ratio is very high.

Enrollment to secondary is also a great challenge for the teachers and the government. The number of students to the number of schools available is not sufficient.There are claims that there is usually unfair selection where school principals are pressured by senior ministry education officials to slot in sons and daughters of the rich and powerful.

There are proposals for the change of the system it remains to be seen whether this will be the remedy to the current challenges facing Kenya's 8-4-4 system. What are your thoughts? Do you think The 8-4-4 system should stay in place or do we need a new system?

My Patriotism

 

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."  - George Bernard Shaw

According to George Bernard Shaw, patriotism is all about believing that no other country or land can match up to the country you were born in. As a Kenyan citizen, I sometimes find it hard to be loyal to my country. I'm a Kenyan lady, born in the 80s, grew up in the Moi era, and surviving through the Kibaki years.

I can not say much about the Moi days since I was young, never really cared about politics, and the Maziwa ya Nyayo (the milk that President Moi used to donate to primary school children) never used to give any reason to dig further and learn about our president, and the politics then.

The first time I voted, was in 2007, the elections that saw Kenyans turn into beasts and our land turn into a war zone.  This was a time in which Kenyans were divided, and ended up shaming ourselves. This time we saw Kenyans killing each other, destroying each others properties, fighting each other and  embarrassing each other. Kenya became a loathing nation.

As much as we the Kenyan citizens are to blame for our own doing, we have to remember that all these issues came about from the fact that we were voting in people who in the long run ended up not caring about the state of the country they ended up leading. Our politicians did nothing much than hide in their palatial homes, while their constituents died, lost loved ones, lost their crops and lands, lost their homes. Till this date, there are some Kenyan citizens living in tents and make shift homes in random areas all due to the chaos that came about from us going to the ballots.

By now one can get the direction of this post. This is not a post that will rant on about the ills of this country, but rather a post full of questions on whether a patriot is really what George Bernard Shaw stated in the quote above. As a Kenyan I think it may be hard sometimes to be sincerely patriotic. I'm in no way saying that we shouldn't be patriotic, but we have to remember what we have been through and work on bettering our country, while still appreciating how far we have come.

In the words of Malcolm X  "You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it." 

Opportunities for the Youth at the county level

The youth in Kenya represent 30% of the population and they face serious challenges of unemployment and underemployment. The new constitution has opened new opportunities that the youth can take advantage of.

Once the counties are implemented there are massive opportunities to be taken advantage of. The youth need to see the bigger picture and think of how they can take advantage of the opportunities presented at the county level.

Kenya's small and medium businesses are the base of the country's entrepreneurial growth. Since 2009, it has been made easier to run a small and medium business in the country, with the opportunity to apply for licences online or through mobile payments. The time it takes to start a business has also been reduced. However the government still needs to do more in providing access to start up and expansion of capital for youth oriented businesses, provide access to business education and financial literacy programs.

The counties bring with them opportunities that the youth can explore and improve their standards of living, through entrepreneurship. In addition to the implementation of counties, the Kenya Vision 2030 also recognizes the role of small and medium sized enterprises in development. It emphasizes on the development of industrial parks in five major towns: Kisumu, Mombasa, Eldoret, Nairobi, Nakuru which if implemented can be a great boost to the youth in terms of entrepreneurship.

The ball lies on the court of the youth to see the opportunity that counties and vision 2030 will provide, see their businesses as growth avenues and not just for daily sustenance in order to overcome the statistic of 70% of Kenyan SMEs not surviving their first year of business.

FIGHTING CRIME OUTSIDE THE BOX

The alarming rates of crime in Kenya is nothing new. The lack of efficient methods by the proper authorities to curb the menace is also something Kenyans have to deal with everyday.

In recent years there's been a remarkable improvement in efforts to curb criminal activities and even the technology has been upgraded to increase efficiency.

There is a certain Chief though who has gone a step ahead of his counterparts to try and decrease crime rates in his home town Lanet, in Nakuru county.

 Chief Francis Kariuki has found a way to use the micro-blogging site, Twitter,  to help fight crime. He has found an easy and affordable way in which he can mobilize his community to come together and deal with crime, petty or otherwise. 

His tweets come in the simplest of forms, while giving detailed information.

As much as it may be an entirely new way of utilizing the site, Chief Kariuki's way seems to be working. 

Maybe he mightjust  give our government some pointers on how to use the technology available to curb the crimes in Kenya.

 If Chief Kariuki can do it, why can't our government!

Traffic Laws and Impunity

Impunity means that perpetrators of serious human rights violations are not prosecuted; they can go free, although their responsibility is widely known. This is true in Kenya when it comes to traffic laws and basically 90% or road users in Kenya.


Drivers of public transport vehicles, private motorists driving on the road with passengers can be classified as perpetrators of human right violations. Why? Because they most of the time while behind the while care not for their passengers.


Lets start with the basic day to day traffic jams and matatus that overlap other vehicles to try and get ahead, this has never happened but God forbid should one matatu over turn and can you imagine the pile up? the number of people who would be injured and those who would lose their lives? 


As you drive on the roads, many of those who flaunt traffic laws have their number plates with GK (Government of Kenya) or international organizations with diplomatic number plates. 


The basics need to be followed to avert traffic impunity:

• Attitude change among Kenyan drivers
• Simple road courtesy: give way not to the over lappers but those who genuinely need to get in line
• Traffic police simply stop taking bribes
• Traffic offenders will only be put to book if bribes are not taken by the court system and the police

What road policies need to be put in place to reduce the number of road accidents on our roads?

Responsible Citizenship

As a Citizen of a particular country, its indicated that one should honor and value the country that they belong to. A citizen should also abide by the set rules and the rights granted to you, set under the constitution.  But what does it take to be a responsible citizen? Does a citizen who abides with the set laws, honors his country and even lets his civic responsibilities be heard and seen, constitute a responsible citizen. The answer to this is in the affirmative.

But that is not all that ensures one as a responsible citizen. In Kenya, not only do you need to have identification, in form of birth certificate, National ID, voters card (once past 18 years) or passport, one must also abide to a few set regulations so as to be considered a responsible citizen.

A responsible Kenyan citizen should ensure that they pursue an education. But what does this mean? There are Kenyan citizens out there who do not have the options nor the means to get an education, even if only up to the primary stages. Does this mean that those who can't afford going to school aren't being the responsible citizens that they are desired to be? The responsible citizen is also meant to pay taxes, through the mandatory ways placed the government. This is inclusive of the income tax, where as a certified citizen of Kenya, working,has certain percentage has to be deducted from your monthly salary. The higher your salary, the higher the percent deducted.

A good citizen has also the responsibility of voting, once they turn 18 years of age. This would essentially mean that the citizen has the option of choosing and voting their candidates, whether as member of Parliament or as the president, in accordance to their personal beliefs and preferences. A responsible Kenyan citizen is encouraged to be free and wise while voting. It is also essential that one must be responsible for their environment and those who reside in it.

Being a responsible citizen means that one must abide by the granted rights, privileges and regulations of citizenship by the constitution, and at the same time benefiting to the set rules.

What are your thought on responsible citizenship? Do you think the set constitution should state what a responsible citizen should be?

National Identity

National identity is a sense of belonging, or being part of something.

One thing that certainly gives us our national identity is the National identity cards, issued when one leaves high school at the age of 18year. This card clearly gives you identity. In so many ways you cannot operate without a national identity card. You need it to perform important transactions in the bank, at the m-pesa joints, to pay taxes, to identify yourself when entering premises the list you use your national identity card is endless. So when one loses it becomes a nightmarish experience.

Our athletes also give us national identity, we feel proud when we see Kenyan athletes winning gold medals at this point you feel proud to be Kenyan and associated with the Kenyan symbols like the flag and the national anthem.

It’s good to know that when you positively associate yourself with your national identity you automatically become a patriot.